HILLSVILLE — The Carroll County Courthouse drama “Thunder in the Hills” returns to the historic courthouse during April.

This play, which was a sellout for multiple performances in 2012 and 2014, tells the story of the tragic shooting that occurred in the courtroom on March 14, 1912 and of the consequences of the shooting.

Local playwright Frank Levering wrote the play in 2012 for the centennial commemoration of the event.

Many of the cast members from the past play will reprise their roles for this year’s performances.

Motorists and pedestrians in downtown Galax on Monday afternoon were given a chance to see a brief art installation on the former Carter Bank & Trust lot at Center and Main by Rob Ponce, a local artist and food service worker.

Included were a silver mannequin, a handmade posterboard with a peace symbol and “respétame” (Mexican Spanish for “respect me”), a tattered American flag and Ponce himself, sitting crosslegged and meditating.

Like many students before him at Galax High School, Travis Newman had heard the stories from upperclassmen about Judy King.

He was warned about the strict red-haired English and U.S. History teacher, a tough-as-nails educator who didn’t suffer foolishness and demanded only the best from her class.

Newman recalls entering her English classroom with dread, “but I learned quickly that what people hated about her classes was that she cared — and she expected her students to care, as well. This was not a class that you could breeze through.”

Nearly a quarter-million more people visited the New River Trail State Park in 2016 than the previous year, and visitation at Grayson Highlands State Park was up by nearly 32,000 people last year.

Virginia’s state parks set record attendance in 2016, with more than 10 million visitors, a 12 percent increase over 2015.

Virginia State Parks, managed by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, hosted more than 1 million overnight visitors in cabins and campgrounds in 2016, an increase of nearly 3 percent over 2015.